TV-Internet integration circuit

ABSTRACT

A TV system for displaying TV broadcast signal and Internet signal. Preferably, the TV system is configured to simultaneously or selectively display the TV broadcast signal and Internet signal.

This is a Continuation Application filed under 35 U.S.C. §120 as acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/794,825, filed onJul. 6, 2007, which was a National Phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofInternational Application No. PCT/IL2005/000035, filed on Jan.11, 2005,the content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the broadcast of audio/video content over theTV infrastructure and Internet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the proliferation of cable TV and the high bandwidth currentlyavailable for the Internet, which promises to increase even more in thenear future, Internet TV is fast becoming a viable alternative toregular and cable TV broadcast channels. Moreover, Internet TV is notsubject to the government licensing laws required by cable and broadcastTV channels and thus offers programs that may not be obtainable usingregular and cable TV broadcast channels.

It is not uncommon for Internet broadcasters to offer near DVD-qualitymovies that can be viewed either using video streaming or downloaded tothe hard disk of a subscriber's computer for viewing “off-line”. Thevideo quality of such movies is vastly superior to that obtainable on aregular TV set, owing to the high resolution associated with computerdisplays that cannot presently be matched by TV screens. However, thisis not particularly troublesome where only pictures are displayed; butit becomes a problem when textual information is displayed that isformatted for high resolution computer monitors since the text is thenbarely legible when displayed on lower resolution TV screens. Thus, if aregular TV set is used to display Internet content that is rich in text,the resulting display quality is poor.

It would therefore be a significant benefit to users of low resolutiondisplays such as TV screens, to be able to watch regular and cable TVbroadcasts and to integrate with Internet content on demand. Inparticular, it would be desirable to provide such a user with a visualand legible indication when viewing a regular or TV broadcast ofavailable Internet movies or other programs and allow him to use thedisplayed indication to integrate with a desired Internet broadcast.

These requirements have been only partially addressed in the art. WO00/08855 to United Video Properties, Inc. and entitled “A system andmethod for synchronizing television-related product content andinternet-delivered information” describes a screen generator that mergesprogram guide data with a TV image and superimposes an Interactive TVGuide on the regular TV image.

US 2002/0093594 (Kikinis) entitled “Method and system for identifyingaddressing data within a television presentation” illustrates in FIG. 5the common connection of TV and Internet to a set-top box.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,746 to OpenTV, Inc. entitled “Interactive televisionsystem and method for displaying a graphical user interface using insertpictures” discloses interactive television having a compressedbackground picture and one or more compressed insert pictures commonlyconnected to a TV-Internet Integration box. The compressed insertpictures represent items of a GUI. The local system i.e. computer“pastes” the insert pictures into the background image.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,898 to Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc.,entitled “Simulcasting digital video programs for broadcast andinteractive services” teaches an interactive TV system where TVbroadcast data is merged with Internet data. To this end, publicwireless packet data network is combined with a broadband digitalbroadcast network at a plurality of transmitter sites. Customer premisesreceiving systems include a receiving antenna and one or more digitalentertainment terminals. The terminal includes a channel selector anddigital receiver for capturing a digital transport stream from aselected channel. A processor converts selected program information fromthe transport stream for presentation, e.g. via a television set. Theterminal also includes a CPU controlling the operation of the channelselector and the processor in response to user inputs.

None of these references appears to disclose the ability to mergebroadcast TV signals with IP packet data at a customer site,specifically in such a manner that a conventional TV set is able todisplay Internet program selection data while viewing a TV broadcastprogram and to use the selected data to select an Internet channel, suchas a movie, for display on the TV set instead of the TV broadcastprogram.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aTV-Internet Integration Box having the ability to merge broadcast TVsignals with IP packet data at a customer site.

It is a further object that such a TV-Internet Integration Box permits aTV set connected thereto to display Internet program selection datawhile viewing a TV broadcast program and to use the selected data toselect an Internet movie for display instead of the TV broadcastprogram.

These objectives are realized in accordance with a first aspect of theinvention by a method for facilitating first data broadcast over a TVsubscriber channel to be displayed simultaneously together with seconddata broadcast over a digital data communications network, the methodcomprising:

receiving said first data and said second data;

combining said first data and said second data to form a combined videosignal; and

conveying said combined video signal to a TV set in a user premises fordisplaying a first image corresponding to the first data and havingsuperimposed thereon a second image corresponding to the second data,said second image being configured to allow a user at said user premisesto interact therewith for redirecting to the digital data communicationsnetwork and displaying a program broadcast thereby in at least a portionof the TV set.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided amethod for facilitating first data broadcast over a TV subscriberchannel to be displayed simultaneously together with second databroadcast over a digital data communications network, the methodcomprising:

receiving said first data at a user premises;

receiving said second data at the user premises according to auser-profile associated with the second data;

combining said first data and said second data to form a combined videosignal; and

conveying said combined video signal to a TV set in a user premises fordisplaying a first image corresponding to the first data and havingsuperimposed thereon a second image corresponding to the second data,said second image being configured to allow a user at said user premisesto interact therewith for redirecting to the digital data communicationsnetwork and displaying a program broadcast thereby in at least a portionof the TV set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carriedout in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way ofnon-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is pictorial representation showing a TV-Internet Integration Boxaccording to the invention connected to a mixed broadcast network forcombining Internet and broadcast TV signals;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe web server shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe TV-Internet Integration Box shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out by anIP content provider such as an advertiser for creating IP content foroverlaying by the TV-Internet Integration Box with a broadcast TVsignal;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functionality of the TV-InternetIntegration Box shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the functionality of a remote controlunit for interfacing with the TV-Internet Integration Box shown in FIG.5;

FIGS. 7a, 7b and 7c are pictorial representations showing a TV setduring different stages of receiving and displaying combined Internetand broadcast TV signals; and

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe TV-Internet Integration Box when pre-fetching a digital broadcastsignal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is pictorial representation showing a mixed broadcast network 10having a Cable TV Box 11 coupled to a satellite 12 and a Cable TVtransmitter 13 for receiving a cable TV broadcast signal (constitutingfirst data). An Internet broadcast signal comprising IP packet data(constituting second data) is streamed from a web server 14 via theInternet 15 (constituting a digital data communications network) to aTV-Internet Integration Box 16 for display on a TV set 17 coupledthereto. The TV set 17 may be constituted by a computer having a videocard and a high resolution display monitor. However, the principalbenefit of the invention is obtained when a regular TV set having lowresolution is used, since such a configuration has not so far been usedto integrate Internet programs with conventional TV broadcasts in themanner proposed by the invention. The TV-Internet Integration Box 16 isconnected to the Cable TV Box 11 for combining the broadcast TV signalsreceived by the Cable TV Box 11 with the IP packet data broadcast viathe Internet 15. Also shown is an advertiser 18 having a computercoupled to the Internet 15 for downloading advertising content to theweb server 14 for storage in a database 19 and a telephone 20 coupled tothe TV-Internet Integration Box 16 for feeding telephony signals to theTV-Internet Integration Box 16, which combines the received telephonysignals with video data received from the Cable TV Box 11 and/or theInternet 15.

The advertiser 18 typically pays for specific time slots and for one ormore specific channels during which his advertisement will be broadcast.Thus, in addition to the advertising content which is prepared and thenstored on the web server 14 in known manner, the advertiser 18 alsospecifies when the advertisement is to be broadcast and on which TVchannel or channels. By such means, a sports advertiser can request timeduring the interval of a football match to broadcast a commercial, whilea toy advertiser would obviously prefer to broadcast a commercial duringa children's TV program. Different time slots may be charged out atdifferent rates depending on the ratings associated with the associatedTV program. After selecting one or more time slots, the advertisementcontent as well as the selected time slots and program data are storedin the database 19 accessed by the web server 14.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe web server 14, which is responsive to an event timetable stored andupdated in the database 19. To this end, an IP content providerinterfaces with the web server for creating IP content and associatingtherewith calendar and program data indicating dates, times and channelsin respect of which the IP content is to be streamed to the customerpremises. Once this is done, the web server 14 monitors events, whichare triggered in known manner causing the web server 14 to extract fromthe database 19 pre-stored IP content for streaming over the Internet 15to the TV-Internet Integration Box 16, where it is processed asdescribed below with reference to FIG. 3 of the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe TV-Internet Integration Box 16. In accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention, the subscriber selects what kind of IP content he wishesto receive and in respect of which program details, such as icons and/ortextual data, are to be displayed together with the TV broadcast data.For example, a subscriber may wish to block certain types of programmaterial or may wish to receives details thereof only during limitedhours, for example when the children are asleep. To this end, thesubscriber is able to program the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 in muchthe same way that a video cassette recorder is programmed so as to storein the memory 25 a timetable indicating what type of IP data is to bedisplayed and when. The timetable is updated as and when required by thesubscriber. The TV-Internet Integration Box 16 is adapted to check thetimetable periodically and to filter out incoming IP content that iseither of a type that is not required or that is broadcast during anunauthorized time window. By such means, an additional layer ofauthorization may be provided to that stored in the database 19 foraccess by the web server 14, thus allowing pre-fetching of IP contentand storage in the memory 25 of the TV-Internet Integration Box 16. Upondetecting a matching event, corresponding to received IP content that isof interest to the subscriber, the TV-Internet Integration Box 16overlays the matched IP content with the current broadcast and displaysthe new integrated video on the subscriber's TV set 17. For example, thematched information may be an icon that indicates to the subscriber thatan Internet movie is currently being broadcast; or it may be anadvertisement or information related to the TV program being broadcast.

The subscriber can respond to the overlaid data using a remote controlunit, described below with reference to FIG. 6 of the drawings, which isprogrammed to interact with the displayed icon or other data that isoverlaid on the TV broadcast. To this end, the displayed IP content mayoptionally contain textual information advising the subscriber to pressa particular button on the remote control unit. Alternatively, buttonson the remote control unit may be color-coded and the icon may becolored so as to indicate to the subscriber which color-coded button topress for selection of the corresponding IP content. If the subscriberresponds to the overlaid data by pressing a button on the remote controlunit, the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 receives the signal from theremote control unit and changes the priorities for use with thePicture-in-Picture (PIP) technique to display the TV broadcast in areduced window and to show the other media, i.e. the IP content, in anenlarged window. The IP content can be a custom designed web page forTV, or a game or advertisement movie or any other information placed onthe matched record. PIP techniques are known per se and allow a video orgraphics image to be inserted on top of a movie clip and to bepositioned and sized. An Effect In and Effect Out may be used to fade ormove the inserted video to the screen. In accordance with one suchtechnique, the bulk of the IP content e.g. corresponding to a movie maybe rendered transparent so as to provide a transparent window throughwhich an icon e.g. relating to the movie is visible. The video contentof the TV broadcast is displayed in one window and the IP content inanother window. Since the bulk of the IP content is transparent it willremain invisible to the subscriber, while the icon (or text) will bevisible since it is opaque. On selecting the displayed icon, theattributes may simply be reversed so as to hide the icon whiledisplaying the movie or other content. At the same time, the TVbroadcast may be re-sized either to display it in a minimized window itthe case that it is to be suppressed altogether, or to display itsuperimposed on the IP content so that both are visible at the same timein different, possibly overlapping, windows.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out by anIP content provider such as an advertiser for creating IP content foroverlaying by the TV-Internet Integration Box with a broadcast TVsignal. Thus, the advertiser designs an advertisement and sends ittogether with a request to a web site link via the Internet or off-lineas required. Since the IP content is intended for display on a lowresolution TV screen, any textual information that forms part of the IPcontent is formatted so as to be legible when displayed on lowerresolution TV screens. Generally, this requires reducing the quantity oftextual information to a minimum and sizing any text so that it islegible. Often, a web advertiser will wish to create an on-lineadvertisement based on an existing web page. In such case, it may benecessary to reduce and resize any textual information so as to complywith these requirements.

The request specifies calendar and program data as explained above,which the web site operator checks for availability and type, definingto which group of users it belongs. If the required time slots areavailable for the requested channels, the site operator confirms therequest and forwards the request to the web control room for finalconfirmation. On confirming the request, a status flag of theadvertisement is changed so as to indicate that the advertisement isawaiting final confirmation from the web control room. At the webcontrol room the advertisement is checked for content by humanevaluators who either approve or reject the advertisement content and,in the case of rejection, may provide reasons therefore. If theadvertisement (or other IP content) is approved by the web controlcenter, its status is set to “approved” and the web control center billsthe customer and the web site operator adds the advertisement and thescheduling information to the database 19. The customer who is billed istypically the advertiser but may be any entity that is identified by adigital signature associated with the advertisement. If either of therequests for approval is rejected the status of the advertisement is setto “rejected” and the web control room informs the advertiser of thegrounds for rejection, allowing the advertiser to change the request andre-send to the web site operator. Optionally, in such case the webserver may be adapted to display to the advertiser the occupiedtimetable and suggest new timetable. Only those advertisements whosestatus flag indicates that they are approved by the web control room areactually available for transmission. The time slot and channelinformation associated with any advertisement that is not so approvedremain available for other advertisements and will be shown as availableto another advertiser who attempts to schedule an advertisement. Onlywhen the advertisement is actually approved by the web site operator andits status is updated accordingly, are the transmission time and channellocked for use by other users.

The IP packet data may optionally be associated with predefineduser-profiles that are also stored in the database 19 so that theadvertisement or other IP data is sent only to specific TV-InternetIntegration Boxes. Such user-profiles may be configured by theadvertiser or by the user. Thus, for example, the invention allowssupplementary or complementary program content to be associated with aTV broadcast, while providing the facility to view the supplementaryprogram content only to specific subscribers, according to theiruser-profiles.

Thus, by way of non-limiting example, the invention allows sign languageto be associated with a TV broadcast for the hard of hearing. It isknown to display sign language in a corner of the screen, but since thisis usually done indiscriminately it also apt to disturb the majority ofviewers who do not need the sign language. The invention may be used toavoid this by conveying the sign language as IP content separate frommain TV broadcast and allowing subscribers to register for a “signlanguage” service so that only registered subscribers receive the IPcontent. IP content files corresponding to sign language to beassociated with different TV broadcasts are created as explained above,and stored in the database 19 together with user-profile data indicatingwhich subscribers are registered to obtain the service. The user-profiledata may contain data that further refines the target audience, such ascategories of TV program alongside which the sign language is to bedisplayed. The user-profile data may further contain geographical dataor language data that allows sign language corresponding to a targetlanguage to be conveyed to specific audiences. By such means, a TVprogram can be accompanied by a sign language overlay that is customizedto a target language depending on the location of the IP target addressor the language requested by the subscriber on registering for theservice.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functionality of the TV-InternetIntegration Box 16 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the TV-Internet IntegrationBox 16 comprises a first input 21 for receiving first data correspondingto a TV broadcast signal, typically being a cable TV signal and a secondinput 22 for receiving respective second data corresponding to IP packetdata. The IP packet data may optionally be downloaded to specificTV-Internet Integration Boxes in accordance with predefineduser-profiles associated with IP packet data and stored in the database19. A combiner unit 23 is coupled to the first and second inputs forcombining the first data and the second data to form a combined videosignal. A video output 24 is coupled to the combiner unit 23 forconveying the combined video signal to a TV set in a user premises. TheTV set may be a conventional TV having a relatively low resolutionscreen for displaying a first image corresponding to the first data andhaving superimposed thereon a second image corresponding to the seconddata. Alternatively, it can be a computer having a video card fordisplaying a combined video image on a high resolution display monitor.

The combiner unit 23 is shown coupled to a processing unit 25 althoughin practice it may be implemented in software by the processing unit 25.A memory 26 is coupled to the processing unit 25 for storing programdata, such as profiles and program timetables etc. so as to allow theprocessing unit 25 to filter incoming IP content according topre-defined profiles and other selection data. The processing unit 25 isalso coupled to a user interface 27 that allows the subscriber toprogram the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 and store the program data inthe memory 26. An IR receiver 28 is adapted to receive IR commands froma remote control unit described below with reference to FIG. 6 and iscoupled to a decoder 29, which decodes a received IR signal and feeds itto the processing unit 25 for further processing.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the functionality of a remote controlunit 30 for interfacing with the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 shown inFIG. 5. The remote control unit 30 includes a processing unit 31 coupledto a user interface 32, typically having a keypad or pushbuttons forprogram selection and setting as well as other functions. The userinterface 32 is coupled to an encoder 33 which is responsive to apressed key or key combination for producing a corresponding IR signalthat is transmitted by an IR transmitter 34 to the TV-InternetIntegration Box 16 for receipt by the IR receiver 28 thereof.

As noted above, the keys may be color coded in correspondence withpre-arranged colors of commonly displayed icons, so that pressing on aspecific key activates the displayed icon of the same color.Alternatively, at least some of the keys may be covered with transfersdepicting commonly displayed icons, whereupon the appropriate keys orbutton for activating each icon are easily recognized.

The keys may also be programmed so that depressing the same key morethan once automatically re-sizes the windows containing the TV broadcastand the Internet broadcast. For example, FIG. 7a shows the defaultsituation where a TV screen 40 displays a conventional TV broadcast in awindow 41 that is sized to occupy the whole area of the TV screen 40 andwill be referred to as the primary window. Also shown are IP icons 42,43 and 44 each of which points to a different IP content that isstreamed from a respective web site of known address. On pressing thekey on the remote control unit 30 that corresponds to the icon 42, theIP content corresponding thereto is displayed within a small window 45(referred to as the secondary window) that is contained within theprimary window 41 as shown in FIG. 7d . The icons 42, 43 and 44 remainvisible so that, if desired, the selected program can be changed bypressing a different key on the remote control unit 30. On pressing akey a second time in succession, the IP content is re-sized so that itswindow 45 occupies substantially the whole area of the screen as shownin FIG. 7c . On pressing the key a third time in succession, thesituation reverts to the default shown in FIG. 7a where the primarywindow 41 containing the TV broadcast occupies the whole area of the TVscreen 40. Thus, each key operates as a three-way toggle that switchesbetween three different display modes.

The second data containing display information for the icons alsocontains data that informs the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 on whichchannel or channels the associated IP content is to be streamed and atwhat times. The second data also specifies the web site where the IPcontent is located. This is summarized in the following table:

TABLE I Second data-definition Icon image Channel Time Website of IPcontent ICON.GIF 2; 23 19:30; 21:30 www.AB.com/adverts/123.htm

Thus, the second data depicted in Table I above shows that the iconimage is contained in a file called ICON.GIF and that the IP contentrelating thereto is to be streamed on channels 2 and 23 at times 19:30and 21:30, these being the start times. The end times are determined bythe duration of the IP content to be streamed, which is downloaded froma web site whose name is shown in the table and is contained in thesecond data.

The second data is downloaded from the web server 14 whose web siteaddress is known to the TV-Internet Integration Box 16. In accordancewith one embodiment, the processing unit 25 is programmed to access theweb server 14 periodically and download current program data. Forexample, once every 2 to 3 hours the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 mayautomatically access the web server 14 to download the second datacorresponding current program data for the next 3 hours as formattedaccording to Table I. The downloaded information is stored locally inthe memory 26 of the TV-Internet Integration Box 16. This allows theTV-Internet Integration Box 16 to pre-fetch IP content relating to allthe currently displayed icons and to store the data relating thereto inthe memory 26 thus obviating the need to access the web site of aselected icon for the purpose of downloading IP selected content. Sincethis carries the overhead of web access and downloading of data, whichcan be cumbersome particularly if there is insufficient bandwidth,pre-fetching in this manner ensures that initial IP content data will beimmediately available on selection of one of the icons.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the principal actions carried out bythe TV-Internet Integration Box when pre-fetching a digital broadcastsignal. Thus, the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 periodically accessesthe web server 14 and downloads current program data, constituting thesecond data. It then extracts from the current program data the imagefiles of the current icons and stores them in the memory 26. In likemanner, it extracts the web sites of the IP content corresponding to thecurrently displayed icons and then accesses these sites to pre-fetch therespective IP content, which it likewise stores in the memory 26. Onselection of an icon, the TV-Internet Integration Box 16 opens asecondary window 45 within the primary window 41, reads from the memory26 the pre-fetched IP content and displays it in the secondary window45.

It will be understood that the TV-Internet Integration Box according tothe invention may be at least partially implemented by a suitablyprogrammed computer. Likewise, the invention contemplates a computerprogram being readable by a computer for executing the method of theinvention. The invention further contemplates a machine-readable memorytangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machinefor executing the method of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A TV-Internet Integration circuitconfigured to combine, at a user's premises, TV channel video withInternet Protocol (IP) material selected by the user through overlays onthe TV channel video displayed in response to an overlay activationcriterion that the user has selected, said circuit comprising: acombiner circuit at the user's premises having a first input forreceiving the TV channel video and a second input for receiving the IPmaterial, and further having an output for outputting the combinedvideo; wherein: the TV channel video conforms to a TV broadcast formatstandard as received at the combiner circuit; the IP format material, asreceived at the combiner circuit, conforms to an IP format standard thatis different from the TV broadcast format standard and is received atthe combiner circuit via a path different from that for the TV channelvideo at least in part; and the combiner circuit comprises a memorycircuit configured to store, at the user's premises, plural overlayseach identifying a respective source of IP material; a display screen atthe user's premises coupled with the combiner circuit to receive anddisplay the combined video as a screen image; said combiner circuitbeing further configured to: respond to an overlay activation criterionto cause the display screen to display the overlays as at least a partof the screen image, and respond to an overlay activation signalselected by the user at the user's premises and identifying one of thedisplayed overlays to cause the screen to display IP format materialfrom the IP source associated with the identified overlay; whereindepending on the user's selection at the user's premises the screenimage is at respective times the TV channel video with or withoutoverlays thereon and the IP material that the user has selected throughthe displayed overlays.
 2. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim1 in which the memory of the combiner circuit is configured to storeoverlays each identifying a respective source of IP material withoutalso storing other content from the respective source.
 3. TheTV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 in which the memory of thecombiner circuit is configured to store overlays each identifying arespective source of IP material by specifying a web site where therespective IP material is located.
 4. The TV-Internet Integrationcircuit of claim 1 in which the combiner circuit is configured togenerate the overlay activation criterion at the user's premises.
 5. TheTV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 in which the combiner circuitis configured to generate the overlay activation criterion at the user'spremises by matching material stored in the memory with IP materialavailable at the second input of the combiner circuit.
 6. TheTV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 in which the combiner circuitis configured to respond to the overlay activation criterion by causingthe screen to display the overlays on a screen showing the TV channelvideo.
 7. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 in which thecombiner circuit is configured to respond to the overlay activationcriterion by causing the screen to display the overlays in respectivewindows of the screen while the screen is showing the TV channel video.8. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 in which the combinercircuit is configured to receive at least some of the overlays throughits second input and store them in the memory of the combiner circuit.9. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 including a set topbox through which the combiner circuit receives the TV channel video atits first input.
 10. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1including a set top box through which the combiner circuit receives theTV channel video at its first input and wherein the path through whichthe combiner circuit receives the IP material at its second inputbypasses the set top box.
 11. The TV-Internet Integration circuit ofclaim 1 in which the combiner circuit is configured to cause the screento display an overlay received at the second input of the combinercircuit in timed relationship with an event in the TV channel videobeing shown on the screen at the time.
 12. The TV-Internet Integrationcircuit of claim 1 including a remote control unit operativelyassociated with the combiner circuit and configured to respond to useraction to generate the overlay activation signal.
 13. The TV-InternetIntegration circuit of claim 1 including a remote control unitoperatively associated with the combiner circuit and configured torespond to user action to generate the overlay activation signal, saidremote control unit comprising a encoder configured to encode the useraction into an IR signal and an IR transmitter transmitting the IRsignal and the combiner circuit comprises an IR receiver and an IRdecoder configured to receive and decode the IR signal into said overlayactivation signal.
 14. The TV-Internet Integration circuit of claim 1 inwhich the combiner circuit comprises a programmed processing unitcarrying out at least some of the responding to the overlay activationcriterion and the overlay activation signal.
 15. A TV-InternetIntegration method combining, at a user's premises, TV channel videowith Internet Protocol (IP) material selected by the user throughoverlays on the TV channel video displayed in response to an overlayactivation criterion that the user has selected, comprising: providing acombiner circuit at the user's premises having a first input forreceiving the TV channel video and a second input for receiving the IPmaterial, and further having an output for outputting the combinedvideo; wherein: the TV channel video conforms to a TV broadcast formatstandard as received at the combiner circuit; and the IP formatmaterial, as received at the combiner circuit, conforms to an IP formatstandard that is different from the TV broadcast format standard and isreceived at the combiner circuit via a path different from that for theTV channel video at least in part; storing in a memory of the combinercircuit, at the user's premises, plural overlays each identifying arespective source of IP material; providing a display screen at theuser's premises coupled with the combiner circuit to receive and displaythe combined video as a screen image; causing the combiner circuit to:respond to an overlay activation criterion to cause the display screento display the overlays as at least a part of the screen image, andrespond to an overlay activation signal selected by the user at theuser's premises and identifying one of the displayed overlays to causethe screen to display IP format material from the IP source associatedwith the identified overlay; wherein depending on the user's selectionthe screen image is at respective times the TV channel video with orwithout overlays thereon and the IP material that the user has selectedthrough the displayed overlays.
 16. The TV-Internet Integration methodof claim 15 in which the storing of overlays in the memory of thecombiner circuit comprises storing overlays each identifying arespective source of IP material without the overlay also includingadditional IP content.
 17. The TV-Internet Integration method of claim15 in which the storing of overlays in the memory of the combinercircuit comprises storing overlays each identifying a respective sourceof IP material by specifying a web site where the respective IP materialis located.
 18. The TV-Internet Integration method of claim 15 includinggenerating the overlay activation criterion at the user's premises. 19.The TV-Internet Integration method of claim 15 including configuring thecombiner circuit to receive at least some of the overlays through itssecond input and store them in the memory of the combiner circuit. 20.The TV-Internet Integration method of claim 15 including configuring thecombiner circuit to cause the screen to display an overlay received atthe second input of the combiner circuit in timed relationship with anevent in the TV channel video being shown on the screen at the time.